Civil Protection Department

The National Civil Protection Service

Operating devices, known by population, activated by the civil protection authority should the alarm threshold be exceeded.

Command and control system

Organisation of emergency activities in a unified and coordinated system, aimed at ensuring close coordination between operating centres in the area and with primary goal of guaranteeing timely aid and proper assistance for the population.

Contaminated site

Area in which the Concentrazioni soglia di rischio - CSR (risk threshold concentrations) are exceeded. The CSRs are determined using the risk analysis procedure described in Annex 1 in the fourth part of the legislative decree no.152 of 2006 “Testo Unico Ambientale”, based on the results of the characterisation plan.

Dangerous substances

Substances and compounds that, due to their chemical, chemical-physical and toxicological qualities, are qualified in danger categories by legislative decree no. 52 of 1997 and no. 285 of 1998, or fall into classification criteria therein described.

Elastic response spectrum

The elastic response spectrum Se(T) is a diagram of the peak or steady-state response (displacement, velocity or acceleration) of a series of oscillators of varying natural frequency, that are forced into motion by the same base vibration or shock. One such use is in assessing the peak response of buildings to earthquakes and where there are possible phenomena of resonance, that might cause its collapse.

Event scenario

Evolution in space and time of the prefigured event, expected and/or ongoing.

Geological substrate

Generally compact, unaltered rock that acts as a base for less compact or altered rocks or loose sediment (surface soils). In the case of problems linked to local seismic response, this is a competent rock (usually from the Meso-Cenozoic or, more rarely, from Quaternary period), which develops deep below the ground for many metres. Geotechnical and geophysical characterisations may occur if a geological substrate is also a seismic bedrock.

Geolothological sections

The sections reconstruct the succession in depth and the geometry – thickness, attitude – of the litological riunits recognised in the area of study, including the pattern of active and non-active tectonic structures – faults, folds and thrust.

Health teams

Unit equipped with sanitary personnel and means operating in the Pma; they follow the patient prior to hospitalization.

Lithotechnical sections

Representations of the subsoil in cross-section that highlight the variations of the mechanical characteristics of rocks deep under the ground.

Macroseismic intensity scale

Scale for assessing the effects of earthquakes on the environment, people, things and buildings in a certain zone. The most commonly used scale of intensity in Italy is the Mercalli Cancani Sieberg scale (MCS). A European macroseismic scale (EMS) has also been defined recently.

Monitoring and alert national system

System in charge of - through the network of Functional Centres - decisions and responsibility of alerting the civil protection service managed both by the Department and the Regions. The system is governed under the responsibility of the Prime Minister and the President of the Regional boards.

Procedures, tools, methods and responsibilities defined and shared made up the system, along with a standardized and coded language for the activities of risk prediction and warning of the structures responsible for activation of the preventive measures and management phases of the emergency. The structure of the system has its legal basis in Directive PCM of 27 February 2004

National operating units

Article 11 of Italian law no. 225 identifies the following as National Service operating units: the National Fire Corps as a fundamental component of the Civil Protection, the Armed Forces, the Police Forces, the State Forestry Corps, the scientific community, the Italian Red Cross, the structures of the National Health Service, Voluntary Organisations, the National Mountain and Speleological Rescue Service – Cnsas-Cai.

Recovery from the emergency

All activities aimed at removing obstacles to the restoration of normal living conditions.

Rescue teams

Unit with health operators that take care of the victims on the place of the event and of their transportation towards the Pma.

Response spectrum

A diagram that provides, as period T varies – inversely to frequency – the maximum response value (motion amplitude) of a system – ground, structure – subject to the effects of a quake. The combined effect of the acceleration amplitude, the seismic oscillation frequency content and the duration can be described through the elastic response spectrum or response spectrum.

Richter scale

This scale created by Charles Richter in 1935 measures the force of an earthquake iregardless of the damage that it causes to things and people, through study of seismograph recordings.

Risk scenario

Evolution in space and time of the event and its effects, the estimated distribution of exposed subjects and their vulnerability, also following contrast actions.

Sar - Search and rescue

Set of activities carried out by teams of personnel specially trained and equipped to search for and rescue missing persons, and particularly persons trapped under debris following an earthquake.

Sar - Synthetic Aperture Radar

Advanced radar device, installed along the sciara following the 2002 emergency of Stromboli volcano. The system can register the ground deformation with high precision. Through the movement of an antenna installed on a 3-metre long track, the device can produce images of sciara and of the volcan crater every 12 minutes, night and day, with any weather and visibility condition. By comparing images taken in different moments, it is possibile to map the movements occurred over the observed scenario.

Seismic swarm

A seismic sequence characterised by a series of earthquakes llocalised in the same area, in a certain interval of time, of similar not very high magnitude. A seismic swarm generally has no main shock.

Sciara del fuoco (Stromboli)

Depression molded some 5,000 years following the collapse of a side of the volcanic building, in which fall most of the eruption products. The Sciara goes on under the sea level, over 600 metres deep.

Sedimentation

Process by which particles suspended in a liquid accumulate and deposit thanks to a force field (field of gravity).

The distribution of eartthquakes in space and time. It generally gives the number of earthquakes in the unit of time or relative seismic activity.

Seismogram

Graphic representation of the ground’s oscillations caused by the passage of seismic waves. Today oscillations recorded by sensors, called seismometers, are recorded by digital instruments and the data can be processed by computers, reducing the time necessary for calculating the magnitude and the epicentre of the earthquakes.

Seismograph

An instrument that allows recording to be made of the earth’s oscillations caused by the passage of seismic waves. In schematic terms, a seismograph comprises a weight, with a motor pen at one end, suspended by a spring on a support fixed to the ground, on which is fixed a roll of paper that scrolls continuously. When the ground sways, the support moves as well as does the roll of paper, while the weight acts like a pendulum and stays still, allowing the pen to record the earthquake by drawing oscillations on the paper (seismogram). In modern seismographs, the pen and the roll of paper have been replaced by a digital system for recording electrical signals transmitted by an electromagnet sensor placed inside a seismometer attached to the ground.

The National Civil Protection Service

Established by law no. 225 of 1992, it has the purpose of protecting life, property, settlements and the environment from damage or loss or from the danger of damage or loss caused by natural disasters, catastrophes and other disasters. Its specific activities are those aimed at predicting and preventing the various risk scenarios, assisting victims and all other urgent activities necessary to overcome the emergency.

Sige – Emergency management system

A model for simulating the effects of the earthquake that, together with the Seismic emergency report, provide an estimate of damage within 10 minutes of the event (seismic scenario). The report contains data, maps and information relative to all the municipalities included in a radius of 100 km from the epicentre, with reference to: description of the territory, hazard, vulnerability, exposure, preliminary damage and loss assessment.

System

Prime Ministerial Directive of 3 December 2008: operating directives for emergency management.
The Department of Civil Protection is home to a coordination centre that guarantees the gathering, verification and dissemination of civil protection information with the aim of immediately alerting, and thus deploying the different components and units for emergency management, in a timely manner. System operates 24/7, all year round, with the presence of personnel from the Department and from the operating units of the Civil Protection National Service listed below:
- National Fire Corps, fundamental component of the Civil Protection National Service (art. 11 of law no. 225 of 24 February 1992);
- Armed Forces (through the Comando operativo di vertice interforze - Military Central Operation Command);
- State Police;
- Carabinieri (the Italian gendarmerie);
- Guardia di Finanza (customs and finance police);
- State Forestry Corps
- Port Authorities – Coast Guards.
- Italian Red Cross

Threshold

Value of the monitored parameter which triggers a level of alert.

Solvent

A solvent is a liquid that is used to: dilute a liquid or solid substance, make two substances interact that on their own would not react, extract one or more substances from composite blends and remover substances (degreasing). Solvents are usually toxic.

SOUP – Permanent unified operations room

A room set up by regions to ensure the coordination of their own fire prevention units with those of the state. It coordinates the intervention not only of its own units and its own aircraft to support the activities of the land teams, but also the resources of the National Fire Corps and the State Forestry Corps based on programme agreements; of personnel belonging to voluntary organisations, recognised according to regulations in force; of resources of the Armed Forces and the State Police Forces, in the event of recognised and urgent need; of aircraft from other regions based on programme agreements.

Ssi - Sala Situazione Italia (National Operations Room)

Structure of civil protection that acts as host to SISTEMA (system), the national coordination centre with the task of monitoring and overseeing national territory in order to identify expected emergency situations in progress and follow their development, as well as to alert and deploy the various components and operating units of the Civil Protection National service that cooperate in the management of the emergency.

State of calamity

A situation that follows natural calamities of an exceptional nature, that cause severe damage to the production activities of industry, commerce, small businesses and farming. It is not so serious as to call for a declaration of the state of emergency and is governed by an ordinary set of laws that regulates financial aid of partial restoration of the damage.

State of configuration

Mode that the Civil Protection Department adopts in response to an event. Department procedures in the event of an emergency entail 4 Configuration States – S0 (Ordinary), S1 (Standby), S2 (Action Stations), S3 (Crisis Unit) – which correspond to the increasing level of activation of the Department, gradually involving Offices and Services.

State of emergency

Should type “c” events occur (art. 2, Italian Law 225/92), in other words events with an intensity and extent that require extraordinary means and power, the Council of Ministers, approves the proposal for state of emergency by the Prime Minister, and decides duration and territorial coverage.

Stratigraphy

A branch of geology with the objective of reconstructing the order in which rocks in the earth’s crust formed over time, to trace back to the evolution of individual sectors of surface, arriving at the geological history of the whole planet.

Reconstruction of the stratigraphic succession respects several fundamental principles:

- the principle of superposition that provides the chronological order of the events that led to the formation of the series;
- recognition of the aspects that define the various environments of rock formation;
- recognition of gaps and discordances that highlight tectonic and sedimentary phenomena which have affected the sequence.

Strato-volcano

A stratovolcano or composite volcano is one that grows gradually with repeated eruptions, alternating phases of effusive and explosive activity (lava flows and pyroclastic deposits), which lead to the formation of overlapping strata. This kind of volcano generally becomes conical in shape with steep sides.

WebGis tool

Management and representation tool of geographic data (Gis), also available on line through a website.

Subsidiarity

The legal-administrative principle that establishes that administrative activity for fulfilling people’s needs whether ensured by parties (local public bodies, in this case it is called vertical subsidiarity) or the citizens themselves, either individually or in associations or volunteer groups, (in this case it is horizontal subsidiarity) must be ensured by the party closest to the citizens (the concept of proximity, on both a decisional and implementation level). These functions may be exercised by higher levels of local administration only when these can deliver the services more effectively and efficiently. Action by parties on a higher level must however be temporary and aim to restore autonomy of action to the lower-level body in the shortest time possible.
The principle of subsidiarity has been incorporated into Italian law with article 118 of the Constitution, as amended by Constitutional Law no. 3/2001.